LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) \u2013 In a quiet but potentially significant move, University of Louisville athletic director Josh Heird has opened an informal dialogue with NCAA officials in hopes of restoring the school\u2019s vacated 2013 men\u2019s basketball national championship.<\/p>\n
Heird disclosed the effort Thursday during a question-and-answer session with the Interim Joint Committee on Economic Development & Workforce Investment in Frankfort, when State Sen. Rick Girdler of Somerset asked whether the school might seek to reclaim the title.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going through that process right now,\u201d Heird said.<\/p>\n
Reached later for clarification, Heird said he has had one initial conversation with the NCAA, during which he shared his concerns and outlined what the university would like to pursue. He said no follow-up discussion has occurred yet, but he expects to get input from the association and hopes to continue the conversation.<\/p>\n
Heird told the committee that he believes the time is right for a discussion, \u201cwith everything that\u2019s transpired in college athletics \u2014 not only the changes, but just some of the recent decisions that have been handed down relative to some recent infractions cases that weren\u2019t taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NCAA vacated Louisville\u2019s 2013 title in 2017, citing the use of ineligible players during a series of sex-for-recruits parties organized by then-basketball staffer and former player Andre McGee. No coaches or administrators at the university were found to have known about the long-running events, which involved strippers and prostitutes in on-campus housing.<\/p>\n
Heird emphasized that the university isn\u2019t pursuing a formal appeals process \u2014 because one doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n
The NCAA has never reversed a decision to vacate a national title, in part because it had never vacated a Division I men\u2019s basketball championship before Louisville\u2019s case. But in the years since, several high-profile programs \u2014 including Kansas, North Carolina and Michigan football \u2014 have avoided vacated wins or championships despite infractions involving ineligible players, recruiting violations or more serious allegations.<\/p>\n
That contrast, along with the dramatic transformation of college athletics into a more professionalized model of compensation and oversight, has created what Heird sees as an opportunity for reconsideration.<\/p>\n
There is no established timetable for the effort. For now, it\u2019s simply about opening a door \u2014 and seeing whether the NCAA is willing to walk through it.<\/p>\n
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